14 May, 2016

My Sewing Machine Area

My sewing machine area.It's gray and drizzly today, so I had to do some fancy schmancy photo editing to get to this photo. My walls are painted a light turquoise.Because I'm in a corner with no window, I utilize OTT lights for natural light above me when I sew.

I think we re-did the floors (hardwood) almost four years ago. When I put the sewing table in, I just propped the thread racks on the table. And sewed around them.

I liked them there, but I was still getting a feel for how my room could work for me.Then I found the black wire sewing machine thread rack (left hand wall) last summer at a garage sale.

It was also propped on the table behind my sewing machine - where the serger cones got in the way - in fact, all the thread was in my way.

I've had this week off, but can't go anywhere because of the 14 1/2 year old Lab, Rusty, who keeps on trucking. Well no, he can't go trucking because he can't get into a car. He's still living but has episodes with his pancreatitis that keep us up all night with him pacing it off.

On the bright side, I was able to piddle away at some of those chores that get put off because of the day job and I have felt quite productive this week. Admittedly, the thread racks have been put off for three years - time flies!

After living with the problem so long, it was a relief to get the serger cones off to the left of the serger machine where they are in no one's way. The regular thread is mostly on the two racks that end about 8 inches above the table - so my big projects have ROOM.

Don't worry, I have more thread - mostly duplicates that don't need to be left out to get dusty.

My Bernina serger is on the left and sees weekly use, as does my regular Pfaff on the right. Way on the left sitting on a stool is my coverstitch (Hems/binds knits). The cover stays on because it's not being used at this time.

Behind my serger is a small stack of plastic drawers I've had forever. The machine manuals and extra feet, the oil are stored here. As well as elastics and other notions.

Even after nearly four years - maybe it's only three, I'm not fully integrated into ONE ROOM. I keep trying.

My other job today was hanging the zippers. They were in a drawer all neat until someone had to paw through them - several times. I keep finding zippers at estate/garage/rummage sales, so this became a huge jumbled mess. I found a couple of ideas on pinterest and Instagram and tucked them into the back of my head - for later.

So - I was at a rummage sale today at the Baptist Church when not one, but three!!! possible solutions for zipper storage were within five feet of each other.

One was a cork board. It didn't have hanging hardware - but an easy fix.

Then I saw a metal pet grate that goes into the back of a car to keep pets corraled in the back. The grid looked rife with possibilities, but it was heavy.

Next to it was a stack of large picture frames and a couple had a metal grate inserted - see photo below.Lightweight, easy to hang, done deal.

To hang my zippers, I used little curtain hooks - shaped like the number 2 - with one end that's sharp to pierce the back of the curtain and the round part to go over a rod.

Then I used binder clips to hold ten or so zippers and just slid the round end over the curtain hook.I actually had to go to the store to buy binder clips as I only had five in my house. I used 20.'Cuz I have a buttload of zippers. I sorted them by metal teeth, nylon teeth, short, long, big teeth (#5), little teeth ( #3).

This organizational frame hangs behind the door. It's not pretty enough to be wall art but this was a good spot.

Never fear, these are not all my zippers! The old zipper drawer holds the zippers still in their covers and my 'small' collection of very short zippers.

I can now see at a glance that I need to be sewing more with zippers, which kinds, and which colors. Much easier and EFFICIENT!

And, there's room to add more if I find more at the next sale.

Sometimes it pays to procrastinate...

I haven't found a place to hang this small wall mirror. It's chalk painted a gray-blue over white over grey. I bought it locally and when I got home, found it to be the perfect place to hang some mini birthday bunting from my friend in Kyoto. I thought it would look good in my sewing room but I'm at a loss as to where it needs to hang.Sigh... another small job to add to the list...A glance back at when I first put together my sewing room I just went and had a look back. Wowza. I've actually managed to stuff more into this room and had to expand into a bedroom dresser for my japanese fabric haul. I need to sew more. Use up more. Seriously.

12 comments:

I have a buttload of zippers myself :D I store them in plastic lidded containers (shoe boxish size). My shorter ones (9" and less) are sorted by colour in their bin (mostly Ebay purchases of sets of 10), the others are mostly mishmash in their respective bins. At my hen party last night my sewy friend assembled 14 by-the-yard zips for me with 2 zipper pulls per piece - my fingers didn't work well enough to do something that fiddly. I am going to hazard a guess that I may have more zippers than you :D I too need to sew more and use up more!

Very organised!!!! I used to have the sewing machine thread thingy but when I swapped rooms with oldest daughter I lost a lot of wall space so it had to go. I really like the binder idea for the Zips - even in the zip drawer it will work better

Loving the zipper storage idea - Could also work for my ribbons, I need to remember all of these things for when I get back a little sewing area again! I found you through Very Kerry Berry - you have a lovely blog! Dee x

It feels good to get organized. I wish that I could really fix up my craft room but I don't know how long we will be in this house ...drives me nuts sometimes. I try not to think about it and just make due.

Congrats on organizing your thread and zippers. I recently did the same and it really helped when it came time to sew the red Jalies--all my red thread was together. My thread is in a dresser drawer by color and my zippers are now in boxes sorted in various ways (purpose, size). I may need to try your large binder clip idea to keep the large zippers sorted by size from becoming a jumbly mess. Love the color of your sewing room walls! Went back and looked at your old sewing room posts, love the color of the floors too.